Weather Dude Fun Fact:  A few people have been struck by lightning and lived to tell about it.  Park Ranger Roy Sullivan was struck by lightning eight times!  Most times he suffered minor burns, but once he lost his big toe, another time his eyebrows, and twice his hair caught fire.

Be on the Safeside

The American Red Cross recommends that all families develop a weather emergency plan that includes the following: 

Decide where to go if at home, school, work, outdoors, or in a car when a flood, severe thunderstorm, or tornado warning is issued.

Update these plans every school year, and as places of employment and residence change.

Include in your disaster plan what to do with your pets.

Disaster Supply Kit

Have a weather disaster kit containing water, non-perishable food, a flashlight and radio with extra batteries, a first aid kit, important documents, medical needs, tools and sanitation supplies.  Be sure everyone in the family knows where your family disaster supply kit is located.

Communication Plans

Designate a friend or relative outside your town or area as your family contact in the event you are separated from family members during a flood, hurricane, or tornado.

Agree upon a place where the family members can meet if separated.

(Source: American Red Cross)

Weather Ideas for elementary students:

1.  Tell about a time when you  were in a thunderstorm.  What did you see and hear?

2.  Talk about the dangers of lightning, and draw a picture about what to do in a thunderstorm.  Write or talk about a "thunderstorm safety rule" for the picture.

3.  Make up a play about a thunderstorm. Have different children act out the parts of a cumulonimbus cloud, a lightning bolt, the sound of thunder, a raindrop, a hailstone, a tornado, and a person doing the safe thing in the storm.

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©Copyright 2004 Nick Walker/Small Gate Media